French Power Strike Cuts 6,000 Megawatts in the Country’s Capacity

A 24-hour strike by energy workers in France had cut about 6,000 megawatts (MW) of the country’s capacity by the early afternoon of April 16, a level unchanged from the start of the day, the CGT union said. This included a fall of 3,500 MW in nuclear power capacity, with the cuts affecting at least five of France’s 19 nuclear plants. Some 80 percent of France’s electricity is produced by nuclear power stations.

The strike is the latest in a series of stoppages that were carried out by French energy workers this year to protest about pay and jobs. Workers are seeking a 5 percent wage increase and a bonus, a union official said. A similar one-day stoppage on April 9 was supported by little more than 5 percent of the workers, and did not lead to any cuts in production capacity.

The fall in French power capacity helped to push European prompt power prices higher on April 16. A spokeswoman for the utility, EDT, said the strike “had no impact on the balance of the grid.”

South African Truck Drivers Win Eight-Day Strike

Thousands of truck drivers cheered as their leader, Satawu President Eugene Dube, told a packed meeting that an agreement with employers had been reached to resolve their 8-day strike. "We have achieved what we have been fighting for. We have achieved the R6,000 ($672.65) minimum wage for long-distance drivers. We have achieved the R3,000 ($ 336.32) for the general workers, “ he said.

The agreement calls for an increase across all levels over a period of two years, starting in 2009, setting new payments for the industry. There is also an increase in subsistence, cross-border, night shift and sugar cane allowances. Women on maternity leave will receive 33 percent of their normal wage.

Satawu originally demanded a 13 percent pay raise and four months’ paid maternity leave with a job guarantee of return to work, RFEA spokeswoman Margetia Brown said: “A sense of relief is felt at the end of any strike, particularly when it is marked by violence and intimidation.”

Pipe Made in India Incenses Illinois Town

The citizens of Granite City, Illinois are outraged that hundreds of sections of steel pipe have been imported from India for use in a local oil pipe line, while the city’s steel mill has been shut down since December—the first time in its 130-year history—with nearly 2,000 employees on furlough. The United Steelworkers union has been trying ever since to galvanize the Granite City story into national outrage over imports, raising suggestions of protectionism in the process.

The union’s hope is that the Indian episode will provoke a broad outcry, forcing Congress to tighten trade rules and pressuring companies that import steel to buy more from domestic suppliers instead. The pressure on Congress is already evident. A provision in the stimulus package, signed into law February, limits the hiring of foreign workers by any company receiving government bailout money.

The Steelworkers’ union asserts that free trade is not the issue. What the Indian pipe represents, union leaders argue, is a violation of free trade. They contend that generous government subsidies allow India and China manufacturers to “dump” steel in this country at prices below the fair market value.

Ford Union Leader Attacked Again in Moscow

Alexei Etmanov, chairman of the Ford labor union in Russia, said that two unknown persons attempted to attack him on the night of April 13 in Moscow, when he was returning home with his wife and a friend after the night shift at the plant. The incident is currently under investigation, and a criminal case has been initiated.

Etmanov says he links the attack to his activity as a union leader. The Ford union made new wage demands for the workers, threatening to initiate a strike at the factory. He was also attacked by three unknown assailants in November 2008, He repelled the attack by firing rubber bullets at them, he said.

Indian Shipbreaking Workers Win Strike in Protest Against Pay Cuts

More than 20,000 shipbreaking workers, under the leadership of their newly-formed and registered trade union, staged a work stoppage in Alang, India, to protest the attempt by employers and contractors to reduce their pay from Rs336 ($ 6.76) to Rs225 ($ 4.59) a day. Shipbreaking is one of the most hazardous industries in the world, whose employers have shown little regard for human rights.

During the March 23-24 strike, employers attempted to obtain an injunction to prevent union officials from entering the shipbreaking yards as part of a wider plan to bust the union. However, V. V. Rane, general secretary of the new union, was able to maintain the solidarity of the workers and force the employers and contractors to concede to worker demands.

Shipyard employers have used the current global economic crisis to further exploit their workers by increasing the workload. The union is getting solid support as an affiliate of the International Metalworkers’ Federation.

80 Ethiopian Women Held in a Tripoli Jail for a Year

Accused of not having a passport, 80 Ethiopian women have been in Tripoli Women’s Prison in north Lebanon for more than a year. Their passports were either taken away from them when they started as domestic workers, or which they never had in the first place. Most were arrested on the street after running away from their employers, usually because of abusive treatment.

The reason these women continue to sit in detention is because the employers don’t want to pay for their ticket home, don’t have the money, and their embassies are unaware of their detention. Legally, they are not entitled to a ticket home, since they did not complete their contract for two years' work.

Rights groups say an estimated 200,000 domestic workers in Lebanon, mostly from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia, are not protected by labor laws.

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